Hikers Put Their Lives on the Line

The steel rails and thick wooden ties slice across deserted beaches. They cut through state and local parks and across a popular recreational vehicle resort.

But the joggers, hikers and bicyclists who cross them take their lives into their hands every day.

“I know a lot of people get killed on this bridge,” one man said Monday while making his way across one of the two trestles above the Ventura River estuary. “It could happen to me too, I guess.”

There are no warning signs at either of the two bridges where three people died and two others were injured in the past three years. At the northern crossing, where a Pomona woman died Saturday, there is a sign prohibiting loitering and trespassing, however.

“We do what we believe is reasonable,” said Mike Furtney, a Southern Pacific spokesman. But “at some point, you have to step back and hope people will exercise some common sense.”

The 49-year-old woman killed Saturday was taking a walk with her husband.

Phyllis Smith was walking across the bridge just north of the river about 6 p.m. when an oncoming passenger train slammed into her, throwing her body about 30 feet and killing her instantly. Her husband, Ross Smith, 51, suffered moderate injuries and was treated at a local hospital.

“You think of trains as being loud and that there is plenty of warning when you’re on the tracks,” said Mike Lavery, a battalion chief with the Ventura Fire Department, who was at the scene of Saturday’s accident.

“But obviously that does not occur,” he said. “A large part of the problem is that you don’t hear it until it’s right there.”

Also killed at the same location were James Wolf, 34, who died last October as he crossed the Ventura River and Tina Alamillo, 48, who was hit a year earlier while trying to rescue her dog.

Southern Pacific officials say they do the best they can to keep people off company property, posting signs and participating in safety-awareness campaigns.

“We tell people in every way and at every opportunity we get that they have no business being on railroad property,” Furtney said.

“If people choose to ignore that and put their lives at risk, there’s nothing we can do.”

There are close calls, even when people walking the tracks escape death.

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Two years ago this month, a 12-year-old boy was seriously injured while crossing the railroad trestle. He was lucky enough to survive.

So was Donna Jean Kennedy, a 36-year-old Ventura resident who suffered critical injuries in 1993 after being struck by a passing train as she crossed the trestle.

“I just always assumed there was enough room to get out of the way,” said one man as he stopped on the trestle Monday afternoon.

None of the half-dozen people crossing the 80-year-old river bridge in an hour’s time Monday afternoon wanted their names published. But each said they did not mind the risk.

“I’m pretty cautious myself,” said one trespasser. “I’m not afraid to jump in the water if I have to. I can swim.”

Another man carrying a 12-pack of beer was hunting for a spot of shade. The beauty of the area makes crossing the bridge worthwhile, he said.

“Look at this view,” he said. “It doesn’t get much prettier than this.”

Emergency crews answering the call Saturday said Smith probably would have survived if she had jumped from the trestle, which is just 12 feet above the water.

“Any trestle where there is restricted access is a danger,” said Fire Capt. Myles Smith, who is not related to the victim.

Jerry Revard, Ventura city parks supervisor, is overseeing a $500,000 replanting project at the estuary. When the project is completed, new signs and refurbished trails will guide visitors through the area and direct them away from the railway lines. He said he has wrestled for years with how to keep people off the tracks.

“We don’t really have any control over the railroad trestle or their right-of-way areas,” Revard said.

“Our intent is to discourage [foot and bicycle] traffic there and try to reroute it,” he said. “But they’ve done it for as long as I can remember, and I don’t really know how we could stop it.”

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According to the branch of the California Public Utilities Commission that regulates railroads, 43 people were killed in 216 rail accidents in 1994, the latest year for which such figures are available.

The vast majority of those accidents involved cars and trains.

But 12 pedestrians were struck by trains across the state in 1994, resulting in nine deaths and three injuries, said Tack Joe, a transportation engineer with the utilities commission.

“There was a [7.2%] increase over 1993, so I guess it was a bad year,” he said.